CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

24
Jade hair ornament inlaid with turquoise
Overall length 23 (9 '/ 2 ), width 9 (3 V 2 )
Neolithic Period, Shandong Longshan Culture
(c. 2000 BCE)
From Zhufeng, Linqu, Shandong Province
The Institute of Archaeology, CASS, Beijing
To create this elegant accessory, 1 the lapidary combined
a long, tubular pin of mottled gray-green and
a thin, curved plaque of creamy white jade. The pin
head is drilled with a V-shaped notch, which slips
over a concavity hollowed in the base of the plaque.
Gradually tapered to a softly pointed tip, this pin
is exquisitely crafted in the round. Two bamboolike
sections, each composed of two gently concave
cylinders joined at a central node, alternate with
bands of ridges and curves of lathelike precision.
The plaque is symmetrically carved with hooked
contours and vermiform perforations, the latter
formed by drilling adjacent sections. One pair of
circular perforations is inlaid with turquoise beads;
another pair along the lower edge may have been
used to thread a binding to the pin. Sketchy incisions—
some echoing the contours of the openwork
plaque, others rendered as simple curves and
intersecting lines — may represent preparatory,
unfinished designs.
This ornament was excavated from a large, rectangular
tomb in north-central Shandong province.
104 LATE PREHISTORIC CHINA